Stefan Schwander released the Just Drifting EP under the pseudonym HARMONIOUS THELONIOUS on London's Dreck Records in 2008, crossing Throbbing Gristle with the djembé. With the "On Stages" EP, released recently on the new Düsseldorf label Diskant, he formulated his intoxicating, sequencer-driven Afro-Industrial with more urgency and reaped bountiful applause from London to Berlin.

Now ITALIC brings you Talking, the debut LP by this Rhenish jack of all trades, who has never cared about trends and instead constantly explores new worlds of rhythm. Alongside the tracks from the On Stages vinyl EP, it includes four new pieces whose pulse is driven in equal parts by the rhythms of Africa and electronics of Europe.

In future HARMONIOUS THELONIOUS will also tour as a live band (Stefan Schwander, Marc Matter, Stefan Suhr), hitting the clubs with turntables, sequencers, effects and Afro-Cuban percussion and conjuring up enthralling trance states. Read more...

THE ITALIC SHOWROOM is a temporary store and exhibition space.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010, 8:00pm - 10:00pm, Gold, Antwerpenerstr. 13, 50672 Cologne, Germany

The headlining act is VON SPAR, who will be presenting their magnificent, cosmic album "Foreigner" in a danceable, atmospheric and playful manner – with visual reinforcement. The glamor of their show will be foreshadowed by a young producer from Düsseldorf, the bon vivant and entertainer LUCAS CROON. His Krautrock-No-Wave is extremely sexy and his show is massively extroverted. Much more raw, yet even more danceable are HARMONIOUS THELONIOUS & BAND. Africa is coming to Deutz – and anyone who can't stand drums or gets an earache from industrial sounds should be prepared an inferno! POPNONAME is a man who needs no further introduction, right? But if that is not the case: Get ready for grand pop gestures and sophisticated beats for body and mind. It's enough electrifying entertainment to make Brian Ferry green with envy.

So put on your white overalls, slip into those leather sandals or just go barefoot and dance with us. It's going to be a hippy-fest for everyone who appreciates flowers, free love, peace and futuristic music... (read on...)

As we all know: these days, you no longer join a trail to the west in order to challenge new frontiers. Instead you dive into technology. That's why KREIDLER are playing their first ever Iphone concert, as part of the Night of the Museums in Düsseldorf. The concert is taking place on May 8 at the NRW-Forum and we all wonder how it will sound. More cosmic? More digital? More Afro-digital? Will they jack? And where will the percussion attacks come from? Surprise, surprise...

Our second KREIDLER news goes out to all you vinyl lovers: from 8 February a limited wax edition of their mind-expanding album Mosaik 2014 is waiting for you in selected record stores around the globe. For lazy-bones we recommend the webshop of our friends at Morr Music, where you can save yourself a copy right away by clicking here.

Also in late March the first remix 12inch of Mosaik 2014 will hit you with a percussive long 12“ edit of the track "Impressions d'Afrique". The flip-side features a Unit 4 rework, made for a disco party where not only mirror balls turn crazy.

While others rethink their work, KREIDLER hit the road to northern Germany to visit Tobias Levin at his studio in Hamburg. The touring days evoked some unanticipated creative energy within the band that needed to be recorded in order to let the KREIDLER saga continue. If you'd like to get some poetic impressions about their days in Hamburg, just visit the KREIDLER blog at spex.de.

Ok, lets hit the other side of the river Rhine to take a little trip from Düsseldorf to Cologne where our mates VON SPAR have been mega productive in the last month. Christmas was canceled for them. Instead they meditated in their rehearsal room and finished their upcoming longplayer Foreigner. Eight tracks for folks who like to listen to music that goes further than what is immediately audible. To give a little taste, in late April the first single „trOOps“, a heartbreaking R&B-ish disco kraut anthem, will spread the first fresh VON SPAR virus. The 12inch comes along with a remix made by New York’s current Disco wizard Prince Language, who already transformed tracks by LCD Soundsystem, MGMT, and The Rapture into irresistible late night dancefloor smashers.

Another sound hobo from Cologne hasn't been inert either. Instead of waiting for spring days, POPNONAME is warming-up himself while playing some free sessions together with the legendary Ex-Can-Drummer Jaki Liebezeit. A little video recording documents how deep they move inside - watch out here.

Beside this POPNONAME continues to work on his next longplayer. If you'd like to gain an insight to his current workflow just watch this interview made in Portugal right before one of his one-off live performances.

Well - that was it for now - for Cologne. We've got to go back to Düsseldorf because some magic happened over their again. For our 10 years jubilee Italic bash, we invited a young artist called LUCAS CROON to bewitch us with his glamorous live show. The member of the trio Stabil Elite devastated us and we highly recommend that you check him out.

And what you thought a love letter without any ANTONELLI news would hit your mailbox. Well - sorry, we have to disappoint you. But no worries - this time only one little bit of news: the never sleeping bass seducer plays in Zagreb at Klub Sirup on February 13 during the Deutsch Minimal Tour, which is curated by the Goethe Institute.

If you like living the Italic way, we've got some flabbergasting news for you. Our cosmic warriors KREIDLER mixed an astral traveling Podcast for the British blog Bodytonic. For those who like dark Disco, Krautrock, weirdo dub and space rock, it's a must. Just follow this link to get some outer-space satisfaction. By the way: the new Kreidler long-player Mosaik 2014 has been voted record of the month at music magazines like Groove, Spex and the German broadcasting company Bayerischer Rundfunk Zündfunk. In order to meet the heavy demand for a vinyl edition of Mosaik 2014, we will release the album on hot black wax on January 18, including a free CD copy of the album. If you haven't had a chance to listen to the whole album yet: via carhartt-streetwear.com/music you can catch a free mp3 in cooperation with zero-inch. And below are some more live dates for Düsseldorf's finest Krautrock ancestors presented by Carhartt, Spex and zero-inch.

By the same token, Cologne's finest shoegazing disco troopers VON SPAR keep following their cosmic path. After releasing the single HyBoLT, which includes a long tripping Prins Thomas Remix, they have shut themselves into their rehearsal room to produce a new album. The release date will be May 2009 and the first demos suggest that their psychedelic sounds may violate some drug laws. More news about this case in January.

Another fellow that doesn't like to follow the consensus of electronic music is POPNONAME, the man who likes the color white even if his music is sometimes dark. He just filmed a new video to his track Touch, one of the smashers of his latest album Surrounded by Weather. The clip was directed by Jan Höhe and can be watched via this link. At present, Popnoname is touring around Europe solo and with The Field. Don't miss the opportunity to see him - he's heartbreaking.

And for sure, there's no news without mentioning ANTONELLI, the man who never stands still on his mission producing peerless club music with an edge. The uncrowned Disco god just released some new skeleton-shaking EP's on Dreck and Level records. On top he also did a remix for Paulo Olarte for Polytone music.

Finally we want to invite you all to our big jubilee bash at the end of the year in Düsseldorf's fabulous Salon Des Amateurs. Here the Italic family dance the mess around to celebrate 10 years of being alive. Feel welcome to join us!!! Take it easy and don't forget: music is not a luxury, but a fundamental need!

Kreidler // 05.12. Cafe Glockensee - Hannover // 09.12. Gebäude 9 - Köln // 10.12. K4 - Nürnberg // 11.12. UT Connewitz - Leipzig // 12.12. Scheune - Dresden // 13.12. Hafenklang - Hamburg // 15.12. Mousonturm - Frankfurt // 16.12. Rote Sonne - München

Popnoname // 01.12. Bahnhof Langedreer - Bochum - (with The Field) // 02.12. Cafe Central - Weinheim - (with The Field) // 04.12. Cabaret Aleatoire - Marseille // 19.12. 10 years ITALIC label showcase - Salon des Amateurs - Düsseldorf // 24.12. Popnoname - X-Mas Party - Wuppertal Bühnen - Wuppertal // 25.12. Xmas With Popnoname - Schwarzes Schaf – Augsburg

10 Years ITALIC label showcase // 19.12. Salon Des Amateurs - Düsseldorf - feat. Antonelli (Live), Barnt (Live), John Harten (Dj), Lucas Croon (Live), Popnoname (Live), Tolouse Low Trax (Dj), Beansandbacon (Visuals).